1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital imaging device such as digital still camera or digital video camera.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A device of the above kind incorporates an image sensor consisting of semiconductor materials and producing images directly in digital form. The image sensor in a digital imaging device replaces the film of conventional still cameras and video cameras.
This type of digital device has become very common in recent years. Users of digital still cameras can in particular view on a screen the digital image captured by the image sensor and decide whether or not to validate the photo to store it in the memory of the device. Real-time viewing of the image captured by the still camera limits spoiled shots.
However, digital imaging devices provide no visual assistance with the inclination and framing of the shot. Thus some photos may have an undesirable inclination to the line of the horizon, which is not necessarily detected by the user when viewing them on the screen of the device. In particular, when the shot is a landscape, for example a seascape, alignment with the line of the horizon is difficult to achieve visually.
Some conventional still cameras have visual aids for the inclination of the lens. Such means generally consist of vials integrated into the still camera and provide a measurement of the inclination of the lens to the horizontal.
There are also tripods for digital video cameras incorporating vials for adjusting the inclination of the video camera.
Such devices can be found on the following Internet site, for example:                http://www.arnaudfrichphoto.com/gp_recadrage_access.htm.        
The above prior art systems are mechanical, costly and bulky.
Mechanical systems of the above kind for indicating inclination of the still camera cannot be transposed to a digital still camera without considerably increasing its weight. At present, no means for indicating inclination of the lens are provided on digital still cameras.
The invention proposes to fill this gap and proposes a digital imaging device enabling checking of the inclination of the lens.